


Betrayal of the Heart

by orphan_account



Category: The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Avengers Tower, Civil War Team Iron Man, Hurt Tony Stark, Non-Canon Relationship, Rude Avengers, Tony Stark Has Daddy Issues, Tony Stark Has Issues, Tony Stark Has Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, Tony Stark Has Trust Issues, Tony Stark Still Has Arc Reactor, betrayed, not team Cap friendly
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-02-22
Updated: 2020-02-22
Packaged: 2021-02-28 05:07:21
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 3
Words: 5,470
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22838293
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: Tony Stark didn't know if it was the cheating on him, kidnapping of said ex girlfriend, or betrayal that hurt the most. Sick of his life of running. He never even had to fake it as the betrayal of Steve smashing his SHIELD into the arc reactor was enough to leave Tony dead. Then Steve walked away and he didn’t come back. And it was at that moment, that Tony Stark finally broke.
Relationships: Natasha Romanov/Tony Stark, Pepper Potts/Tony Stark, Tony Stark & Avengers Team
Comments: 6
Kudos: 48





	1. turn around, please.

Tony Stark didn't know if it was the cheating, kidnapping of said ex-girlfriend, or betrayal that hurt the most. He knew it had eventually been coming his way, he just chose not to believe it, not to let him realise that he had been wrong. To some extent, he was right, but any sort of trust that Tony had in Steve, Pepper, the Avengers or anyone else was destroyed, shattered within the first two minutes of peace.

The painful ripping sounds he could hear coming from his body was enough to know, he was dying. He was also smart enough to know that he was minutes away-no, seconds away from the impending doom of his death, and yet, after squeezing his eyes shut, Steve never came back, he didn't turn around but Tony also didn't die. 

He felt his body being tugged at by the unfamiliar pull of magic, and yet it seemed remarkably similar to Wanda's red tendrils, or even Strange's power. Yet again, his eyes were squeezed shut as his body (an soul) were being whirled through space and time, which Tony now recognised as teleportation. Eventually the feeling dissipated, along with the nausea and anxiety starting to tickle at his stomach. After a few minutes he pried his eyes open and began to take in the radiant sights around him. 

Below him was like a sea of objects. Every single item you could possibly dream of was floating around in the pool life fixture beneath the glass. Although it would seem cramped, Tony guessed that magic dealt with that little issue. The walls were quartz and had indistinguishable (to Tony) inscriptions and pictures, carved magnificently into them. The thrones before him were no better, and while he wanted to return home, it was not like anyone would care that he would return at all, if ever.

"Are you done with your gaping Stark?" came a sassy voice that Tony slightly recognised. He scratched the back of his neck while racking his brain for a witty reply, coming with nothing, he decided to be blunt.

"Why am I here? What is this place? And why do I feel like someone is repeated shoving new sections of a body into me?" he looked down nervously, inwardly chiding himself for asking too many questions.

"Stark as much as I would like to answer that, we are running on a tight schedule here. This," Stephen Strange gestured to a diamond looked shape attached to what looked to be a piercing "is the diamond of eternity, your questions will be answered by it, not me."

Stephen crossed over the room and left it with Tony, who was still muttering about annoying wizards, and being tired with this magic shit but Stephen chose to ignore it.

"This.......piece of jewellery, it's more than just a body piercing isn't it?" Tony piped up eventually.

"Glad you finally took notice. You are now the entitled being chosen by it to be it's protector,"

"Uhm What?"

"It needs to be stapled (pierced or whatever) to your body as you are now the protector of it,"

This obviously still didn't make sense to Tony, who was standing there looking extremely confused and oddly like a lost puppy. Stephen spoke again, finally managed to gain some interest from the other man.

"This jewel chooses the most selfless of men/women. It only chooses those which it deems worthy of more but don't want it. Have the entire world at their disposal but decide to keep it around anyway. People like you Stark. You were brought here because you were about to die. This is one way to live," _to get a fresh start._ Just because the last few words had gone unsaid, Tony let the question hung in the air a little longer than it should have. 

"........fine. But don't expect me to deal with more of your wizard shit."

"you will have to anyways as a mean of gratitude to the stone. Sorry not sorry."

Tony mind wondered vaguely if it was too late to go back, but then he remembered why he was here and more urgently _how_ he was here. And then it hit him like a ton of bricks, that he wasn't going to wake up to the sweet smell of Pepper's perfume anymore. That he wasn't going to be a part of any more of the once beloved but endearing prank wars with the Avengers. He had lost it _all_. And only because of three people. This is when he finally decided that, people are merely toys, that can broken, fixed, but won't ever be the same again.h

"Stop with the sass, I'll take your deal."

"Good, Stark. You can show yourself out then." Stephen's sentence ended with one heck of a dramatic exit as he slammed the door without touching it and then disappeared into a portal. 

_Way to be over dramatic._ Tony thought before sitting on the floor thinking of any possible way to get out. Now that Strange was gone, he didn't bother concerning himself with tear over the betrayal, no, he had let that one go, and a simmering rage brew deep inside him. Every now and again his mind would drift of to the newly 'stapled' to his body jewel, pondering over the magical properties. 

He was convinced that it had been a few days, he had tried everything from shouting and screaming to pounding his fist on the walls until hi knuckles bled but still no one came. Only now, he realised that there was another option, and he would have to get used to it since apparently the jewel could give him powers, or so Strange had hinted. Deciding not to wait any longer, he raised his hand up and focused on the his recent unexpected eyebrow piercing. 

Silver tendrils of magic surged out of him and whirled into a dark circle like shape, which Tony could only assume was a portal. He took a few strides to reach it and even as it was giving a pounding headache while teleporting, the scientist part of him couldn't help but be in awe. 

After a few seconds he was back in the world, the sun glaring down at him and the cloud parted as if fleeing from one another. He really had to get better at that, so at least he wouldn't land in some random mountain range. Glancing around in a full 360, he realised that there was nothing around, not one living thing, just snowy mountain obstructing his view. He knew he couldn't make it anywhere else, his energy had depleted with the lack of food, near death experience and amount of questions clouding his mind.

He knew he was in too deep, and if he could, he would try to stay there, away from the av-. He came to a screeching halt in his brain. Even the word caused his body to go numb, he started trembling and shivering in the cold, and somehow the whole ordeal managed to elicit tears from him. The first tears he had ever cried since Howard and Maria Stark had died.

That was a lie.

But he liked to tell himself it wasn't.

Tony Stark had only ever cried at three events.

Obadiah Stane's betrayal.

Howard and Maria Stark's death.

And when he found Pepper Potts cheating on him.

All three had somehow been connected under the category of 'didn't actually like me' or 'reasons I should stay away from other people'. And somehow, one way or another, the Avengers had ended up on that list. Tony's breathing, which had previously been short and unpredictable, began to slowly regulate and when his heart started beating normally again, he get up and brushed off the snow.

The next few hours were blank, the numbness caused by the awfulness of it all being the only thing that could reside in his mind. So naturally, Tony wandered around aimlessly until he crashed into something. Something hard. And completely unlike snow and ice. He instantaneously recognised it as metal, being familiar with so many kind due to his jo- old life.

Finally, a bit of hope and relief washed over him as he found a small scanner in the left hand side. A smile tugged at his lips and it only widened when the door swung open for him to reveal a rather...interesting but nice home.

It was furnished with inly simplistic but quality furniture, obviously leaving much room for personal customization via magic. The polished wooden floors were impeccably clean and an assortment of fluffy rugs were scattered around the whole house. Climbing the stairs like an excited child, eager to know more, he bag his journey, comin across more bedrooms than one could possibly need and various training facilities. From there Tony explored, the house and all its hidden rooms and magical objects, but he paused.

He felt his whole entire body become rigid when he lifted a plant to inspect only for the floor beneath to open up beneath him and send him tumbling down the stairs into a library. Libraries were never good places for Tony, as Pepper said, but it didn't matter anymore what Pepper said, and he still trying to come to grips with that. He would always lock himself into a library then return around a week later with his head thrumming with all the new knowledge. It didn't help that he didn't even attempt to sleep even when he'd isolated himself in the nicely scented room.

He dismissed the thoughts of those occurrences until he reached a section that he'd initially not seen before, it had many heavy and old looking books but also what appeared to be notebooks. Curiosity swept through him, so naturally, he grabbed the closest notebook off the shelf and flipped open the first page.

_Thought you could use some help with the magic, I left my notes from my learning days._

_-Doctor Strange_

Now a smile was really etched into his face as he fell back into a pattern he rather enjoyed. The fridge magically restocked itself and if he wanted something, it was within his grasp as long as he sent a long 'gratitude' letter to Strange, who seemed to take pleasure in annoying him. Everyday was just as interesting as the day before; always filled with the same Eat, Sleep, Study Magic, Train, repeat.

And there's not one bit of this life, that Tony Stark didn't love.

There was only one recent panic attack when Stephen had left a note about using Magic for the greater good and mentioned the Avengers in it. It had caused Tony to violently shake, collapse and sob and eventually he even adopted a new name. He had begged and begged through many letters and finally Strange caved in to the weird request.

Tony's warm brown eyes were long gone, and replaced with a glowing silver although he could lift the spell if he wanted. He shaved of his once favoured goatee, got a haircut, and now felt like an entirely different person.

It was looking in the mirror that sparked his new name.

He would be known as Silver Myrrah.

And nothing, not his past, his relations or even the extremely irritating Doctor Strange would make him go back.

Or so he thought.


	2. help me, please

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Steve is struggling with keeping the story about Tony's disappearance consistent and he's worried Bucky can't hold it anymore. He gathers up his courage and manages to explain, leaving out details and switching it up a bit. Or rather 50% the truth and 50% an twisted version. It's a battle to see who will crack under the consuming guilt first, Steve or Bucky?

**back at avengers tower**

**NYC-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------**

Steve pushed past the others, dismissing Bucky's outstretched hand and rushed into his bedroom, collapsing onto the bed so hard that it shakes. The guilt is gnawing at him from the inside out and he's struggling to find the words for what he needs to say but knows he can't.

 _why?_ he thought _Why of all the things that I messed up on does it have to be purposely killing a famous billionaire/celebrity/superhero. If I wasn't locked up for being a super soldier, I sure will be now._

"I've sealed my fate," he mumbled into the duvet of his double bed. Scars littered his body, but yet that wasn't what he was concerned about, he was more concerned by the fact he had red in his ledger, that there was actual blood on his super suit, and it wasn't his. That he could still feel the iron fingers of Tony's suit clawing at him, trying to stop him, but he could still feel the pain as the memory of the light leaving Tony's eyes was what scarred him most. It felt like an sick, twisted ironic joke that he could see the light leave Tony's eyes yet he hadn't even watched. He'd walked away.

He tried all night, isolating himself in the shower for an hour, picking up the leftover from dinner four hours later and going to the gym at four in the morning. He hated how he knew that tomorrow, the others would definitely be suspicious, but for today, he had to work on a backstory for his kinda in purpose kinda accidental murder.

\-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The night didn't bing much relief to Bucky either, he was still in his room, staring at ne spot on the wall contemplating the events of the day, the possible murder, the betrayal to Tony from Steve and Phil Coulson all in one week. It didn't help that Bucky had killed Tony's parents and Tony had found out Cap went to great lengths to cover it up. It didn't matter to Bucky anymore that Steve was a good friend.

All he could feel was nothing and when he wasn't feeling anything, he was to depressed or submerged in regret to even try and occupy his brain elsewhere.

\----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------"Don't you think it's weird, how Bucky and Steve locked themselves in their rooms and avoided any questions about a missing persons that they could very well know about?!" Natasha whisper-yelled to Bruce, Clint and Wanda who were all seated in various states of being comfortable.

"I mean yeah it's weird but they'll tell us when they're ready right?" Wanda responded cutting in to the thoughtful silence that had followed the initial silence.

"I'm not to sure," Natasha said, confliction dancing across her facial features. 

"They won't lie to us," 

At this Natasha didn't respond, instead pursing her lips and changing the topic, if Wanda noticed, she didn't say anything.

"It's just," she sighed as she finally spilt the worries to her best friends available, "None of us were on exactly _good_ terms with Tony, especially not me and Steve, and I just really hope that, and while I want to be optimistic, I get a chance to say sorry. Apologize, do whatever I need to do to make that argument not be a our last conversation,"

The others didn't say anything, knowing that the last time any of them spoke to Tony it hadn't been good terms at all, they all just huddled together on the sofa and cuddled through the eerie silence.

Steve turned back from the scene he had been watching from the shadows, as tears began slipping down his cheeks. He crept back down the corridor and snuck out to the place he usually found Natasha early morning, and cried. He cried until he couldn't anymore.

From his red puffy eyes, dark circles and ruffled hair down to the dirty and damaged super suit he was still wearing, Natasha could confidently say that Steve Rogers was crying all night and judging by the desolate look on his face, couldn't cry anymore. She silently crept over and sat beside him, wrapping a comforting arm around his shoulder and resting her head on him as they watched the sunrise. It was silent for long while, so long that the Sun had risen a whole lot higher.

"It was my fault." Steve finally said, his voice croaky and hoarse, filled with emotion.

"Don't say that, you can't blame yourself, he's still a missing person,"Natasha replied quickly, almost as if she was trying to convince herself too.

"It really was, I wish I could back,"

"Steve, we will find h-" Natasha says, with a bit less confidence in her tone, but the raw emotion emerging from her, still on display, but Steve interjected quickly.

"No Nat. You won't find him."

"W-why?"

Natasha didn't even want to ask, but she couldn't quite urge the question back and she wished she had because innocence was better than the truth. Innocence was bliss.

"Because he's dead. I killed him,"

Steve broke down again, into a mess that she never thought she would have to clean up, but there was no cleaning this up, it was a problem too far gone. Because Tony Stark was wrongly wanted by the U.S Government and Police and that was Natasha's fault. Because Pepper cheated on him with Agent Coulson. Because everyone all argued to stop him from going to Siberia, usually turned into built up tension being vented/ personal arguments. But mostly because no matter how hard Natasha tried, there was no fixing this.

Instead she decided to sort out the tower, clear up the other aftermath. The first thing she did was assemble the A-remaining Avengers, it certainly hurt to say remaining because they had never been one down before.

She stared at both Bucky and Steve, who were both 'hidden' amongst the other Avengers.

"Both of you up here Now." her tone was deadly and serious yet still it didn't mask the underlying guilt, "Which one of you wants to explain?"

Bucky gulped, just obvious enough for Natasha to see due to her trained eye, her eyes then narrowed into a glare directly at the two men. Unsurprisingly Steve Rogers stood up to speak.

"Tony Stark is not a missing person. H-he's dead. A multi-story parking lot collapsed while we were putting out the aftermath fires. He dove r-right in to try and save th-this young g-girl lu-,"

Bucky had gone red with anger and all he could feel was the guilt, so he had to stop, Bucky couldn't hold it in any longer that was for sure.

"STEVE STOP!STOP IT PLEASE! You and I both know that isn't why he's gone and actually he is still a missing person!!!"

A wave of shock clashed over the confused but slightly relieved yet angry Avengers, there were too many emotional highs right now and Bucky knew that if he didn't tell the truth, that all hell would break loose in the penthouse.

"YOU WANT TO KNOW THE TRUTH ? TONY'S MAYBE MISSING, It's hard to tell, a portal opened and snatched him but I think they've returned him by now. I'm sorry Steve but my conscious is screaming at me and all I fell is blankness. If he is d-gone, it's Steve and my fault. Tony found out that I-the winter soldier killed his parents. He attacked me because he was so mad. Steve and me against Tony. He knocked me down. But if he's gone it's probably because Steve shoved his bloody shield into the Arc reactor,"

Bucky let it all out, the floodgates had burst and he sort of blamed his friend for all this mental hassle,then again it was all Steve's fault and this wouldn't have happened had he not tried to step in.

The whole room descended into chaos, murmurs and yells echoing throughout it. Natasha, having already gain her composure, walked up to where she was previously standing and covering her eyes before letting at a loud whistle. The silence was immediate.

"EVERYBODY! SPLIT UP! SEARCH FOR STARK!" Her voice broke halfway through, hoarse from the screaming and crying of the day. She was trembling slightly and eventually just stalked out, no emotion present on her face.

"Nat wai-"Steve called after her, she whipped around instantly.

"Romanoff to you," she hissed, venom laced in her tone.

"Ple-"

"No." 

This time Natasha didn't turn around and Steve was smart enough to not go after her. 

The next few hours were packed with rushing around hallways, gathering weapons, and boarding quinjets. Eventually, all the Avengers were in different countries, searching for the Lost hero. Even months later, Tony Stark was never found.

It had been May when they started and it was January of the next year that they stopped searching and Tony Stark was presumed dead. The Avengers had moved on and long forgotten the lost Iron hero. It was only the nightmares that reminded them of the pain they had inflicted.

**In the mountainsides**

Tony Stark had to admit, the lack of human contact was beginning to affect him. Especially the almost dreary loneliness and eerie peace of the snowy mountains. 

It had taken a long while, at least a few months before Tony finally found a human civilisation. It was behind the forest that he willingly explored, and tucked behind many hills.

He only visited once a week as he preferred to remain inside the warmth of his mountain bunker. But when did, he always went to the small restaurant hidden behind the wooden market stalls.

It was a cosy place, with sofas instead of regular tables, and they sold the best and only hot chocolate in the village.

They had soft lanterns lighting the walls and amazing views from the windows of the snowy caps and pine trees. 

This village was the best way for him to relax, to forget.

It had been 3 years since....the betrayals. No one found him, yet somehow when they weren't even looking, they did.

It was a regular Friday evening for him, when the visitor showed up. He had woke up, practiced magic, trained (physically) then went to his favourite restaurant/cafe. 

It was on his way home, around 5 in the evening that he heard sobbing. Tony had been at home for merely five minutes, when a loud tapping on the door sounded. It soon turned into frantic knocks.

He threw his cloak on hurriedly, as well as attaching a hood for identity reasons, he may have been different but still recognisable and he never got visitors.

Tony rushed over to the door and opened it, to reveal a sobbing redhead girl who he'd never expected to shed a tear.

"Help me. Please," came the croaky voice of Natasha Romanoff.


	3. i didn't say that.

_"Help me. Please," came the croaky voice of Natasha Romanoff._

If it wasn't for the obscuring hood, his wide eyes and gaping mouth would have raised some questions. For once, Tony was grateful to the wizards who had gifted it to him.

"Come in." He spoke in a slightly questionable gruff voice as he tugged Natasha into the building. Natasha didn't give much question to the voice as she was too preoccupied with making it inside.

"Thank you," she muttered, just loud enough for the mysterious stranger to hear her.

Tony poked his head out of the doorframe, replaced the cloaking magic and slammed the door behind him.

"Would you like...anything?" Tony asked idiotically to the shivering and snow coated woman perched on the end of his sofa.

"Well that's kind of obvious, but a blanket would suffice," she replied, her jaw trembling with cold.

Tony scratched his head nervously and disappeared down the hall, only to re-emerge a few seconds later. He was holding a large, luxurious blanket and a cup of steaming coffee.

"Uhh. Here.Sorry if you don't like coffee."

"Don't worry, I do. I have a colleague who lives of-" Natasha mentally chided herself for bringing up Stark, who she didn't know was standing right in front of her.

"Why'd you stop your sentence?" Natasha flinched violently but answered all the same.

"He died. Well we stopped searching. And we didn't part on good terms, there, got your answer," she said bitterly, her tone void of emotion and yet Tony could sense a hidden feeling of guilt and anger. Though even though he could glimpse her thoughts if he chose to, he preferred not to and let others have an inkling of privacy.

 _Wow._ He thought _. I really have changed._

He contemplated allowing the woman to stay there overnight, it was a battle between the feelings of lost hope and the unopened box of heartstrings which had been ripped to shreds years ago.

"Why are you here? and if I may ask, who are you?" Neither of the questions really mattered, as he knew the answer to the latter and if she lied, he would sense it and resort to the mind reading. 

Natasha's was having her own mental contemplation battle. She scanned through all of the possibilities in her brain, though there weren't many. Most were just past fake names and she was fresh out if those. All the ones that were twisted truths were more believable but she'd completely ran out of those. _Truth? No way, that would never work_.

Minutes later, she seemed to come up with an answer.

"My name is Natasha Romanov. As for why I'm here......I ran away from home," In her head, she smacked herself, out of all the possible excuses she just _had_ to use the most childish one.

"You are not a child, you can't just run away."

"I left because it didn't feel like home anymore, I gave up trying to fake it, so I ran. And they followed," Although she didn't specify who, Tony knew who she was absentmindedly referring to. The Avengers. After many years of mental training he could just about avoid a panic attack at the name or any vague reference. The skill came in handy as most of everywhere always had at least one recent gossip article about the famed heroes.

"The Avengers..." he hadn't even noticed that it had slipped out and was to busy pushing away a panic attack to notice Natasha shoot to her feet and narrow her stormy green eyes.

"How the hell do you know that? Who the hell are you?!" she sounded suspicious and Tony could see her hand slowly drifting to her knife holster.

Tony threw his arms up in surrender and could feel nausea tickling his internal systems threatening to expel them.

"I- I swear I'm not with HYDRA! Or SHIELD."

"You shouldn't know about either of those organizations. Tell me who you are because I won't hesitate to shoot," It was only at this moment that Tony realised she had a gun pointed at him, his power could only do so much healing but he wasn't sure if that extended to bullet wounds and he wasn't too eager to test it.

"My name is Myria. But I'm more commonly known as the Silver Sorcerer."

"That's exactly why I'm here," she snapped, sending him a quick once over before meeting his startling silver eyes again.

"Okay?"

"Jeesh you're an idiot. Anyway, the..missing guy's suit was last seen nearby 3 years ago before it disappeared entirely of the radar." She seemed to struggle with the words but forced them out anyway "Ever heard of Tony Stark?"

Tony's shielded face contorted into horror then worry and many more emotions to follow, there was no escaping it, no matter how much he ran away from his old life.

Natasha decided to take the silence as a sign to continue.

"At SHIELD, we....uhh....were told of a mysterious wizard who lived in the mountains near where To-my colleague was last seen before disappearing of the radar for good. And since your the only one here...." she trailed off and gestured to the dimly lit room.

The 'story' sounded oddly like some weird psycho fairy tale so he made the choice to show his face. It's not like she would recognise him anyways, with no traces of facial hair, shining silver eyes and longer curly hair.

"Here I am. but I'm sorry I can't help you. I only moved here 2 years ago yet your 'colleague disappeared 3 years ago." Natasha was visibly tormenting herself into not displaying any emotion over the statement but she picked up his mistake quicker than he had.

"What did you just say?" she snarled, crossing her arms to disguise her clenched fists.

"nothing." he rushed out, too quickly for even an ounce of it to be true.

"How the hell would you know that he disappeared 3 years ago?! You do know something!"

"I-I didn't say that." Tony stuttered, for the first time in his overly dramatic and depressing life, he stuttered.

"To hell with that! Where is Tony Stark?!" he didn't expect for her to slam him into the wall forcefully, a slim, strong hand tightening around his neck, sharp nails digging into his flesh. Nor did he expect for it to be the exact spot where he 'buried' his old life. 

The seemingly strong wall smashed into pieces to reveal an entirely vibranium metal door. She took notice of it and dropped him to the floor. It seemed to have every kind of possible security check all in one archway. Subconsciously, Natasha edged towards it, curiosity overtaking any and all sense she had, it was just her and the door separated by an archway.

Behind her, Tony was silently panicking, if she opened that metal door...He had locked his damaged Iron Man suit in there, hoping he would never have to use it, as far as he knew, he still didn't.

Tony, skillfully flipped onto his feet, to the sight of Natasha staring at the door, he realised, no matter how much he attempted to put it off, that he could never fully let go, or get rid of the past. The moment she started inching towards the archway, he was pushing her back with one strong and muscular arm.

"Don't. It reverts you to the state of yourself you hate the most, and if there is none, it revives your worst memories." Tony sounds almost sad, letting his fake accent slip and go back to his old tone, fortunately for him, even Natasha trained ears barely took notice.

Instead, she pushed the restraining arm back and hold tightly onto it before ramming her knee into his back. He managed to dazedly stumble through the archway before collapsing in an exhausted heap on the floor.

And there, lying on the ground, suddenly heavily bleeding with a failing arc reactor in his chest, was Tony Stark. Tears slipped out of her eyes gently falling onto the elegant wooden floor. The sound was barely noticeable but from Tony's eyes, it was like the ocean flooding around him.

Natasha's hand snaked into her pocket and retrieves her phone from it's depths.

Tears just kept on falling, forming a small stream of water on the ground but she couldn't feel anything, her entire body was numb as she choked on her sobs. She let out a strangled noise as blood started to pool around him, a deep crimson red that she could make out her blurry reflection in.

Thankfully she managed to dial the number she was so well acquainted with yet wasn't in her contacts for security reasons.

"H-hey Fury? I-I found him."

Fury noticed the slight tremble in her voice but decided against saying anything, if an emotionless Natasha was dangerous, an emotionally unstable one was ten times worse.

"I'm sending in the quinjets."

**In the Avengers Tower.....**

Steve and Bucky had long since been forgiven, yet there was still a few moments where someone would look at them with a glare or looks of pity and Steve hated every single moment of it. The day Natasha had gone on a private and highly classified mission was just another regular day for the Avengers. Natasha muttering about 'classified this and classified that' while Thor obsessed over everyday midgardian items.

Currently, they were all (except Natasha) sitting in various areas of the movie room, watching Brooklyn Nine-Nine intently. Occasionally they would all burst out laughing or small chuckles every now and then, and it was one of the peaceful moments that they enjoyed most.

A wailing alarm began blaring throughout the tower, and depleted the mood dramatically. The Avengers shot to their feet, and exchanged glances before rushing to grab their weapons and make their way to the meeting room.

"Fury, what's going on?" Steve asked, he was the most cool and collected of the curious team only for it to quickly fall away with his boss's next words.

"We found him," with his words, Fury opened a hologram of the file for the group to read. Steve's eyes bugged out while scanning wildy through the file.

It was like everything came crashing down on Steve, he let out a choked noise and ran out of the room, Bucky not so far behind. After all this time and yet Steve didn't know if it was better or worse that they found him. And he was definitely not ready to find out. 

`


End file.
